Fallout
by AngelicDragons
Summary: The Dragon let Beckett live. He killed members of his own organization to do it. Decisions like that always have fallout.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first fanfiction. Had this story play out in my mind and wondered what others would think about it. Please leave comments and reviews so I know what I can do to make it better.**

**If there is no interest then this little short start can fade away.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. I'm just building on the great creativity of others.**

* * *

The ambulance screeched to a halt in front of the emergency room entrance. The driver hopped out and ran to the back doors reaching it at the same time as the doctor and nurse meeting them.

"What have we got?" the doctor asked as he opened the doors.

"Male, mid-forties. Had his throat slit. Flat lined once in route. Lost lots of blood already pushed two units. We clamped the artery and stopped the flow. He's coming in and out of consciousness."

The doctor turned to the nurse," We go straight to the OR or this guy doesn't make it." The nurse ran through the automatic doors and into the hospital. The two medics and the doctor wheeled the patient in behind her. As they made their way through the halls and into the elevator the man sprang awake. He grabbed the doctor's coat and pulled the doctor down into his face.

"Detective Katherine Beckett." He choked out.

"Sir, calm down. Don't talk. Your throat has been …"

His eyes frantic and consciousness slipping the patient redoubled his efforts "Detective Katherine Beckett."

* * *

The infernal noise pulled Castle awake. It took him a moment to get his bearings. That's when he realized the noise was his phone. He reached across to the night stand and grabbed the piece of annoying technology.

"Castle." He answered.

"Castle…"

"Sorry Javi, I must have picked up the wrong phone. I'll wake Kate."

"No Castle don't. Not yet. I called you for a reason. If she is still asleep, leave the room."

Castle carefully got out of bed. He was actually very surprised that the phone didn't wake Kate, but she did get in only a couple of hours sleep where as he had meetings at Black Pawn and had been out of the case. He walked into the office and closed the door.

"What's up Javi?"

"Vulcan Simmons was admitted to Lennox Hill last night. He had his throat cut."

"Is the son of a bitch dead?" Castle growled.

"No. He's asking for Beckett."

"Are you serious? What the hell for? She's not going down there. Things are just getting better. Just let him die and we can all breathe easier."

"I know Castle. I know how you feel. But listen to me. His throat was slit. Elena was found at the scene with two bullets in the chest. She was sent to kill him."

"Bracken had him hit? That doesn't make sense. He needs Simmons to keep the drugs going to keep the money flowing for his campaign. We are still two years out. No way he doesn't need the money. But why Kate? He tried to kill her."

"He says that she's the only one he knows isn't on the take."

After several minutes of silence Javi checked to be sure that Castle was still there. "Castle?"

"Yeah, Javi. I'm here. Give me some time to talk to Kate and I'll get back to you." And with that Castle hung up the phone. He walked back into the bedroom to see Kate still sleeping peacefully. She hadn't had nightmares for almost two months. Things were just getting back to something close to normal. Now he was going to wake her from a peaceful sleep and drag her into the nightmare he was so desperately trying to protect her from. He crawled onto the bed and bent down and gently kissed her temple.

"Kate, babe. Wake up. We need to talk."


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow. The reviews were so good and so many follows...now I feel pressure. I hope this chapter is received as well as my first. I won't be updating everyday, but I have the early parts worked out pretty well so here is the next chapter. Let me know how I'm doing.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Castle. Just doing my best not to dent them while I test drive.**

* * *

Kate stood outside the hospital room talking to her team and Captain Gates. Well, they were talking. Kate wasn't really paying attention. She had spent the previous hour trying to get herself into a frame of mind to face Vulcan Simmons. She wasn't sure what she was more worried about, cracking in front of Simmons and showing him the fear and damage that he had done to her or cracking in front of Simmons and showing Castle the fear and damage that he had done to her. She wasn't sure what Castle would do in that situation. She was sure that she didn't want to find out what he would do. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose, blowing the air back out of her mouth.

"Detective Beckett?"

Kate was startled by her Captains voice. "Sir? I'm sorry. You were saying?"

Victoria Gates demeanor changed almost instantly. Worry that never showed crossed her face. "Kate, you don't have to go in there. I don't give a damn about him or anything he wants to say. We can walk out the door right now and I guarantee that you will never hear anything about this again."

Kate looked her Captain in the eye "No sir. I can handle this. We can walk into that room and find out what he has to say." She wished she felt half as confident as she just sounded. She was just happy that Castle was backing her on this. Since he had woken her he told her he would back her decision, whatever she decided. She knew that she wouldn't be able to do this without him.

"Come on Castle. Let's see what he wants." Standing in front of the door out of ear shot of the others Kate turned to Castle. "Babe, this is an interrogation, but I'm going to need your help. You can't hold my hand but can you just keep yours at the small of my back? And if you see me, "she looked down at the floor and back up into his eyes," start to drift. Just start talking, show me the way back, alright. Just don't let him know that he has any effect on me. Can you do that?"

Castle kissed her gently on the temple, "Always." And with that they entered the room.

Vulcan Simmons certainly didn't look anything like the monster that had water boarded her months ago. He was pale and sickly looking. The tubes and bandages took all the terror out of him. That and the fact both hands were cuffed to the railings as well as straps holding down his legs. If he wasn't who he was she might even feel sorry for him. But, he was the man that had tortured her, so his current condition actually made her feel pretty comfortable.

Simmons eyes slowly opened. "Detective Beckett. Nice to see you again."

Kate waited for the panic to come, to feel the helplessness that she had felt in that cellar, but it never came. She could feel Castle at her back, and smell the disinfectant in the air and see the broken man before her and it was nothing like the situation she had feared. "What do you want Simmons?"

"Revenge Detective. I want revenge. I've been double crossed. My people have been killed and now he's killed me. Here, prison, the street, doesn't matter. I can't hide from him. Can't fight him anymore. Not anymore." Simmons closed his eyes taking labored breathes. After a few moments he started again. "All I can do is make sure he doesn't survive either. The only person I can trust is the one person who hates him more than me. That's you."

Castle took a step closer to Beckett. "Revenge? How?"

Simmons eyes unfocused for a moment as they came to rest on Castle. "The writer." He sighed. "The chain on my neck, has a key. First Bank and Trust on 99th street. Box 439. Has what you want." With that Simmons pushed the button for morphine and slipped back into unconsciousness.

Beckett left the room calling to Ryan, "Where are his belongings?"

Ryan appeared with the bag that held Simmons clothes, shoes and other items. A quick search produced the chain and key to which he referred.

"Safety deposit box. Simmons said that his revenge against Lazarus is in this box. We need to go there. Now." Beckett said placing the key around her own neck.

Espo spoke up, "Beckett, its 4:30 in the morning. The bank isn't going to be open for another four and a half hours. Even if we had a warrant, which we don't, we couldn't get them to open up now."

"We don't need the warrant, we have the key." Castle pulled out his phone and started dialing "And as for the branch not being open, I know a guy. Well I know a gal." Castle smiled as the other end of the line picked up. "Barbara, Richard Castle. I am incredibly sorry to bother you at this ridiculous hour. Normally I would wait, but an emergency has arisen and I desperately need access to a safety deposit box." Castle stood quietly for a moment smiling into the phone. "Yes, mother and Alexis had a marvelous time. I'm glad we could be of help. Yes, of course we will. Just let me know when. Thank you very much. See you in an hour."

Ryan, Espo, Kate, and Gates were staring at Castle as he hung up the phone and turned back around to the group. He looked a little startled when he saw their faces. "I'm on the board of a charity the bank vice president runs." Castle shrugged his shoulders like it wasn't a big deal. "Mother, Alexis, and I help her with a couple of events each year to benefit after school activities for youth at risk…" Everybody but Kate was looking at him like he had two heads. "Never mind. The point is she said she would do me a favor and meet us at the bank branch in an hour."

About that time Gates phone began ringing. "The Chief of Detectives. Excellent." And she walked away from the group.

"The Chief of D's?!" Kate looked at Espo and Kevin. "What's going on? How screwed are we?"

Espo and Ryan exchanged a glance and Javi nodded as if to say "Go ahead". Ryan began speaking. "Beckett, what happened to you while undercover has had some serious fallout. It hasn't gone public, but after this it might. That night, after you and Castle left, Gates got into a pretty impressive fight with the head of narcotics. She even questioned whose side he was on in front of the deputy commissioner. He actually had to physically step between them at one point. Well that little incident made it to the commissioner. The following afternoon, the commissioner, the mayor, Gates, and the head of narcotics all met in the Chief of Detectives office. From what I've been told the majority of the meeting was the commissioner and the mayor yelling at the head of narcotics and occasionally at the Chief of Ds. The head of narcotics was canned. The lead detective on your case, retired at half pension. The group that did the background on Eleana? The lucky ones are now on traffic detail. The deputy commissioner has gutted narcotics. Three quarters of the unit is now new. All the old officers and detectives have been moved, demoted, or retired."

"Why haven't we heard any of this? How do you know?" Castle asked.

"Because it is being kept absolutely quiet so as not to screw every prosecution the DA is currently running. I only know because I ran into a buddy from my narc days who asked how you were doing and felt bad that you got caught up in the whole mess"

Javi finally spoke up "Anyway, when we got here, before I called Castle the Chief of Ds was down here talking to Gates. I heard him tell Gates that this was hers to run as she saw fit. He also said in absolute terms that she had protection from any blowback by him, the commissioner and mayor."

"That's certainly a lot of light on this case." Castle stated hesitantly. "How much do they know that we know? Or a better question is what do they know that we don't? And the most important question, when will the Dragon notice?"

Kate put her hand on Castle's shoulder. "One step at a time, OK, babe?" Castle nodded his head and didn't even notice when he put his hand around Kate's waist. Kate noticed, but it had been a bad day and it was only a quarter till five in the morning. She needed the comfort.

Gates returned to the group as Castle finished his question. "The Future Forward connection is what has moved everything Mr. Castle. Someone with connections, power, and ambition is making a play. It has scared a lot of people. It's made other people angry. The lawyer that Beckett was supposed to kill, he has very powerful friends. The investor that died of the heart attack? Powerful friends as well. Like it or not Vulcan Simmons is a powerful underworld figure. His attack and possible death will cause even more dominos to fall. There is a man behind the curtain controlling things here. That person is now being looked for." Gates looked at the assembled group. "Valsques and Hastings are going with you to the bank. We take no chances. Am I understood? Go find out what is in that safety deposit box."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks everyone for the reviews and the follows. I'm happy people like the story. Let's see if I can keep your interest through this chapter.**

**Keep the reviews and comments coming. Creativity loves an audience.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything. Just trying to do them justice while I borrow them.**

* * *

The group arrived at the bank just as Barbara the VP did. Castle did a quick round of introductions and she led them into the bank and back to the vault. Castle couldn't help but notice that Kate looked nervous as she and Barbara used the keys to open the box. Peering inside the larger than average box Castle could see several file folders and what appeared to be a portable disk drive.

"Let me see that" Castle said as he picked up the drive. "Barbara do you have a computer with internet access that I can use?"

"Of course. You can use the one at the desk just outside." She said pointing to a desk just beyond the vault doors.

"Castle, what are you doing?" Beckett asked.

"Well first I'm going to see what is on the disk and then make copies. Lots of copies."

"Castle that is evidence in an ongoing investigation. You can't just make copies."

Castle turned and looked at her. "You would prefer that it get blown into little pieces of confetti that we spend the next two days piecing together at your apartment?"

Beckett winced at the memory. "Fine"

Castle sat down, plugged in the drive and began typing away at the keyboard. "Let's see what's on here. Wow. This is a lot of information. Looks like transaction records to and from the "Future Forward" account. Shows where the money is coming from and going. Ledgers with payments to public officales, documents of incorporation… Well, this is different. A good many obituaries. There are recorded phone calls on here, pictures. No wonder some of these files are so large. It's going to take a while to go through all this. We a going to need help."

"Where are you going to be able to copy this much data Castle?" Kate asked while looking over his shoulder.

"Black Pawn has manuscript servers set up for writers. They are secure and they are capable of holding large amounts of data. It also has the added benefit of being able to be accessed from anywhere. I just access the site" Caste hit a few buttons, "Enter my ID", he hit a few more buttons, "Type in my password", more typing, "And transmit the data", he hit the enter key with a flourish.

Espo wandered up behind Castle holding some of the file folders "I'm all for taking precautions, but aren't you going a little overboard? What exactly do you think is going to happen between here and the station, bro?"

Castle looked up from the computer staring at Espo like it was the most ridiculous question on earth, "Oh, I don't know…we could walk outside and be attacked by ninjas that destroy the drive with a throwing star. Or we could be picked up by government agents, have bags thrown over our heads, and driven off to their secret hideout. We could be locked in the trunk of a car by a rogue CIA double agent. We could be zapped by a beam and wake up being interrogated by Men In Black. We could be drugged and wake up in a basement with a tiger. We could get in the car and find out that it has chemical weapons in the air vents…"

"Castle! That's classified!" Beckett hissed.

"Oops, my bad." Javi and Kevin exchanged confused looks. "We could all be replaced by look-a-likes. Attacked by zombies, vampires, werewolves."

"You could fall into a giant trap dug by Bigfoot." Ryan added helpfully

"Dude!" Espo responded. Beckett just rolled her eyes.

Castle flashed a smile at Hastings, "It could be stolen by a costumed superhero who flees on a motorcycle."

Anne Hastings turned away but not before everyone could see a blush that made the tips of her ears turn pink.

"We get it Castle." Beckett finally cut in. "You've made your point. Just finish copying the files so that we can get back to the station."

"I know, a handsome billionaire could kiss Kate and she could just hand over…"

Castle didn't see Beckett take a step toward him and certainly didn't see her hand move, he did however feel the vise like grip when it reached his ear and twisted.

"APPLES! APPLES!" He screamed.

"Or maybe some no talent tramp wannabe actress can show up and bat her eyes at you and you turn it over. Or some over sexed bimbo reporter can throw herself at you and you hand it over while she pins you to the couch. Or some deep fried snack cake…"

"Sorry. I get it. I'm sorry. Went two steps to far. Won't happen again." He looked up at her with his puppy dog eyes, "I love you."

Beckett pursed her lips and squinted her eyes at him. "You might be forgiven. Finish copying the files. We do have serious work to do here."

"I know. This is my coping mechanism. Sorry about that." Castle turned back to the machine. It took another forty minutes for the coping to finish. In the meantime, following Castle's example, Javier and Kevin made photocopies of all the files as well as scanned them in to be transmitted with the data from the hard drive.

"There. Everything is uploaded. I'll text Gina to go ahead and do a backup of the manuscript server and that will make two copies. One at the offsite storage facility in Colorado and another at the offices in London."

Kevin was reading from the folder he had in his hand. "There are police and DA reports in here." Looking up from the file "Some of this stuff will tie Montgomery to the kidnapping of the mob figures."

Kate just shook her head "I hate it, but we are too far down the rabbit hole now. If we start trying to doctor the evidence we are as bad as the people we are after."

Javier cleared his throat "Let's just get this stuff back to the station. I'll feel better when we have it secured."

"Yea." Beckett agrees. Let's get out of here."

* * *

After getting in the car and pulling away from the curb Castle turned to Beckett, "Kate, do you have anyone in the AG's office that you trust?"

"Sure. Why?"

"We are about to present evidence that a sitting senator is involved in murder for hire, fraud, blackmail, money laundering and drug dealing. This isn't going to stay local long. It would probably be better in invite the help rather than get stripped of the investigation."

The idea of giving up this case to someone else made Beckett just the other side of completely insane but she knew Castle was right. There was no way they kept the case when everything finally went public and help was help. Wow, did she just think that? What had Castle done to her. "I'll call McCord when we get back to the station. Ask her if she can look over something for me. I won't discuss what it actually is over the phone."

"That sounds like a good idea. For what it's worth, I reached out to my father." Castle threw in casually.

She turned to look at him, "Exactly how did you do that? Did he give you a super secret number or email address to contact him at?"

"No. I just text myself 'Love you Dad.'. Since he showed up in the middle of that hacking investigation I assumed he's monitoring my calls and text. How else would have known that I was in the building to see him or how to call my unlisted number."

Beckett jammed the brakes sending the car into a sliding stop in the middle of street. Good thing it was still early otherwise there would have been a serious accident. She turned her head to Castle, knuckles going white on the steering wheel as her hand tightened in anger. "WHAT! YOU THINK HE MONITORS YOUR TEXT MESSAGES!?"

"Well yeah how else would he have….oh crap." The color drained from his face as the enormity of his stupidity occurred to him. "Uhm…I'm sure…"

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." Kate rested her head on the steering wheel hiding her mortification behind her curls and angry voice. "It is never happening again, do you understand me. Never. You and I will never speak of it or this for the rest of our lives."

"Kate…"

"NEVER!" she shouted as she accelerated the car toward the station house.


	4. Chapter 4

**I want to say thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favorites. I hope that the story can live up to everyone's expectations.**

**This isn't the chapter I had planned on writing. This isn't even the chapter I started writing. It is however the chapter that got written. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but at least it's moving everything in the direction I want the story to go. **

**Let me know what you think, especially on what I consider an iffy chapter.**

* * *

**Washington D.C. **

He looked up from his work upon hearing the buzzing sound. It was the phone that he kept put away in the desk drawer. The one under the name of a man who died over twenty years ago. "Finally" he thought to himself. Opening the drawer and pulling out the phone, instead of seeing the 'Delivery Confirmed' message he expected he saw a 'Watch the news' message. He turned on the television to a local New York station that got pushed directly to the office. It took about 15 minutes for the update to scroll by, but when it did a chill went up his spine.

_Notorious underworld crime figure Vulcan Simmons in critical conditions at a local hospital. An as of yet unidentified female also found dead at the scene._

He glanced up at the clock on the wall. He could claim an early lunch around 10. If he left the office before that it would raise undue interest. He simply texted back '10:30'. Something had obviously gone wrong. Very, very wrong. It was going to be a long two hours.

He arrived at the WWII memorial at 10:15. He walked around to be sure that he didn't see any couple of faces to many times. At 10:30 he arrived directly in front of the section dedicated to those fallen in California. Three minutes later the person he had be expecting walked up next to him, sipping a coffee appearing all the world like the other wandering tourist.

"So many forgotten." The stranger said.

"They got the job done. Served their purpose." He responded.

"He was ready. She wasn't. He's already talked to the cops. That group out of the twelfth. The mayor, commissioner, and the deputy of organized crime are involved as well. The friends of the lawyer and finance guy are involved as well."

"What about the DA?"

"Mayor and Commissioner have isolated him. They've already talked to the federal prosecutor for the district."

"What do they have?"

"I don't know. The evidence hasn't gone beyond the group at the twelfth. They are keeping it really close. The lady detective placed a call to the AG's team. Don't know what was said, but one them is headed down later today."

"What about the money?"

"Don't know. They may know, they may not. We move it, and they are watching, they see everything."

"Don't move it. Lot of money, lot of risk. Clean up what you can. Destroy all traces. Hold tight and see what they have. No further communication."

"Done." The stranger nodded and walked away.

He walked over to a bench and sat down, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Detective Katherine Houghton Beckett. Richard Edgar Castle." He muttered to himself. He supposed that the irony of the whole situation would be appreciated by both of them if they understood.

* * *

The stranger got into his car and made a call. It was answered immediately.

"Yes."

"We freeze. He doesn't want any moves made. Do we know anything more?"

"No. We are completely in the dark. Our source has been removed. We don't know what was said or what, if anything was given to them. We could be looking at a nonevent or complete exposure."

"Prepare for the worst. I'll be back tonight."

* * *

**1 Police Plaza, New York, New York.**

The Mayor walked into the Police Commissioner's office. "Please tell me that we have good news."

"Bob, we don't know anything yet. Evidence has been retrieved but it is still being processed. From what I've been told, there is quite a bit and it is going to take some time to make heads or tails of it."

"Dammit Joseph! We both know what this is. We know who this is. All we need is a little evidence. To get out of from under his influence. I'm tired of getting stepped on."

"Don't get ahead of yourself. We may not have anything. He could skate through this just like everything else that he has done. Destroyed your career. Has people in my police department. Hell, he has people in this building. Why do you think Gates is keeping everything quarantined at the twelfth? The less he knows, the better for everybody."

"I just need this to be over. A lot of people need this to be over."

"Amen to that."

* * *

**12****th**** Precinct**

Kevin sat down his egg roll and picked up the file he had been looking at. At lunch the group had stopped listening to phone calls that had mapped out the drug operation in pretty good detail, and turned to the documents.

"Look at this. Bracken is listed as a partner in Tactical Solutions Incorporated. Well he's the sole investor in a shell corporation that owns one third."

Javier picked up the document "TSI? That would explain a lot."

"How?" Castle asked.

"TSI is the third largest security contractor in America. They have contracts with dozens of local, state, and federal organizations. They are strictly former military. Highly trained, highly motivated. It's exactly the type of place you would get people like Coonan, Lockwood, and Maddox."

"So he is part owner in a paramilitary organization?" Castle sighed. "That doesn't make me feel good."

Beckett hands over another set of files. "These are bank transactions going back years. Recognize the account number that seeds the money in this account?" She says handing the paper over to Ryan.

"This is the account from the Smith documents. This is Brackens original slush fund." Kevin flips forward several pages. "Does anyone remember the number for Coonan's account? The one Castle wired money to?"

Castle rattles the number off from memory. The three stare. "Oh come on. You think I'm going to forget that? I dreamed about that mess for weeks."

"Damn." Kevin looks up from the document as Kate. "Uhm, Beckett, there are four separate transactions in here for $100,000 in 1999. The first is three days before your mother's murder." Kevin looks at Castle, "Castle do you have the date of death of the other three victims?"

Castle starts opening files on Kate's computer. "Yeah, here they are." He turns the screen toward Ryan.

"Yep, each one of these payments occurs within four days before the murders. We tie this account to Bracken and we can prove intent."

"Ok, ok. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. There is still a lot to go through here. One step at a time." Even though she sounded strong she still reached over and grabbed Castle's hand.

* * *

**Undisclosed Location**

As he opened the door, Marks was glad that he could deliver good news. The man was already aggravated by having to sit behind a desk. The message they had intercepted earlier that morning hadn't helped any. The man looked up as the door shut.

"Is my family alright?"

"Yes sir. Martha is at her school. Your granddaughter is in class. Your son and his fiancée are at the precinct. Given the urgency I spoke directly to our contact in the twelfth. She had eyes on them while we were having the conversation."

"Thank God. Ok, then way the message?"

"Someone attempted to kill Vulcan Simmons last night. Apparently it was the same assassin that Detective Beckett impersonated several months ago. She was killed and Mr. Simmons was gravely injured. He request Detective Beckett and has turned over a large amount of evidence against the person he has been working with. Mr. Castle and Detective Beckett are going through the information now. Our contact also said that there is a great deal of interest in the case from higher ups. The mayor, commissioner and a deputy commissioner for organized crime are fully involved. The DA has been completely removed from the process because they believe he is compromised. They are dealing with the federal prosecutor directly."

"So he's worried that something more direct will be tried. Put a team on them. Low key, but armed for bear. Tell them don't wait for something to happen, to act first. I'll take the heat for anything that goes wrong."

"Yes sir."

"Do we know how good the evidence is?"

"Our contact doesn't know yet. She says they are still sorting through it and it is a lot of information. However we do know that Senator took a trip down to the WWII memorial this morning not long after Mr. Simmons met with the detectives."

"So he is worried then. Good. For now, as long as there is no immediate danger, we stay hand off. If it even feels like something is going to happen, we go in guns blazing and apologize later."

"Yes sir."


	5. Chapter 5

**Wow. Coming up to the conclusion here soon. I wrote five and six at the same time. Actually finished six first.**

**Thanks for all the reviews and follows. I hope everyone continues to like the story. I've tried to stay true to most of the characters.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Castle or anything remotely related to it.**

* * *

Kate woke up at 9:30 on a Wednesday off. The first thing she noticed was that the bed beside her as empty and cold. She sat up and stretched. It had been a long and grueling four and half months. Tracing the money, drugs and corporations had led so many different places. The FBI, DEA, SEC, and Treasury had all eventually gotten involved. The first dominos to fall had been in the NYPD narcotics unit. Several officers and detectives were linked to payoff to look the other way. From there it went to council members, union reps, and lawyers. Covering up crime, laundering money, paying off people, threats, intimidation, and murder for hire. The DOJ and DOD shutdown TSI and pulled it apart of the seams. After proving that TSI had facilitated murder contacts using former DOD personnel it had unraveled quickly. When TSI got hit the one partner committed suicide rather than go to prison. The note he left behind was a full confession of his sins. He even admitted to sending Maddox to clean up the mess in New York. The other partner cooperated fully in hopes that he would die in solitary confinement. That's when people in the know figured out that Bracken was the target. That's when things sped up in the investigation.

When climbing to the top the way Bracken did, you made a lot of enemies. When they smelled blood in the water, they attacked. While running the narcotics investigation the FBI found a couple of dirty DEA supervisors. They had helped keep the drug operation below the radar. During its investigation, the Treasury found an IRS auditor and Manager that were helping keep the transactions being done to and from Future Forward off of the radar. That led to the freezing of everything that Future Forward was attached to. Everyone involved knew that it would tip off Bracken, but freezing the money was worth the risk.

The Federal Prosecutor was positive that with the evidence and witnesses that there was no way Bracken was going to walk. He would answer for his crimes. Beckett only cared about charge 31. The murder of Johanna Beckett. When she had seen a copy of the full indictment yesterday she had cried when she read it. It would be officially read and served today at noon. The feds were going to actually arrest him. Beckett had been offered to be there, but she was going to be here with Castle and her father when he was arrested and charges formally read. She hadn't told her father why he need to come over, but she told him it was very important.

She put on her robe and loosely tied the knot. Walking out of the bedroom and into the loft she found Castle sitting at the breakfast bar sipping a cup of coffee staring out into space. She quietly walked up behind him and slid her arms around his waist.

"Penny for your thoughts." She said giving him a squeeze.

Castle turned on the stool so that he could return the embrace. "How you doing?"

Kate pulled back from the hug to look at his face, "That's what you're thinking while I'm in bed asleep? How is Kate doing?"

"Well, yeah. Is it over? What next? How we she take it? How will she take how her Dad takes it? I should I do something for her? What can I do for her? How can I make things better? That all boils down to 'How is Kate doing?'."

"Right now, I'm good. I'm not saying there won't be ups and downs as things progress, but at this moment I am happy."

At that moment Beckett's phone rang.

"Isn't this a day off?" he asked, and then looking more serious "You aren't going in without me."

She brushed his jaw with her fingers. "Yes it is a day off and no I'm not going in without you. And yes I promise no more undercover work, unless you are there. I keep my promises Castle." She answered the phone. "Beckett."

"Detective Beckett. I know it is your day off and I am not calling about any sort of special assignment. Tell Mr. Castle to relax. A body has been discovered. Detective Espisto is texting you the address now. You and Mr. Castle really should come. I really can't say more over the phone."

"Yes, sir." She hung up of the phone and before saying anything called her father. He picked up on the first ring.

"Hello Katie, I didn't think I was supposed to come of till noon."

Kate let out a sigh of relief. "No Dad that's right. Something has come up though. Castle and I have to run out for a little bit. I'll call when we are on our way back. Love you."

"Love you to Katie."

Hanging up the phone she turns back to Castle and Alexis. "That was Gates. Relax Castle she specifically told me that it isn't a special assignment, but that a body dropped and she wants both of us there at the scene. That's why I called Dad. Javi just texted me the address."

Thirty minutes later they were pulling up outside a downtown high rise. As Beckett and Castle got out of the car they both traded a look.

"Damn.", Kate muttered under her breath.

They walked through the lobby and up to the 50th floor. As the doors opened they were immediately greeted by Javier and Kevin. Gates was standing behind them.

"Bracken?" Castle asked before Kate could.

Gates nodded her head in the affirmative. They walked down the hall through the offices of the staff and into the Senators office. There on the desk was what was left of the Senators head and an expanding puddle of blood. The wall behind him was splattered with blood, brain, and skull. Kate notice a Ruger .357 Magnum in his right hand on the desk.

"What happened?" She asked not being able to take her eyes away from the scene.

"He had a meeting this morning with his lawyer, the federal prosecutor, and two members of her office. Is was supposed to be about the conditions of his surrender. They met at 10:30. They arrived, were invited into the office and sat down. Bracken walked around his desk, sat down and opened a draw revealing the pistol. He then picked up the pistol, cocked the hammer, put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger in front of the four witnesses. He was dead before his head hit the desk."

"So he gets away again." Kate questioned looking up at Gates.

"No." A voice spoke from behind them. Kate immediately recognized the Federal Prosecutor. "On the table here was not only evidence of what he had done and others but a full confession. Just from a cursory view, there is evidence of things here that we didn't even know to look for. He doesn't get away from anything. Everyone will know what he did and why he chose to take his own life."

Castle looked over at Kate who was now standing still and quiet. He could usually read her so well but this situation was so far out of even there norm, we wasn't sure what was about to happen. Without a word she turned and walked from the room. Castle followed after her. She stopped in the hall in front of the elevators but hadn't pushed a button. Castle could tell she was tense but not crying. He walked up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Should I be mad that he has escaped justice or just relieved that all of this if over and done with?" She asked without turning around.

"You can be whatever way you want to be. You don't even have to choose between the two if you don't want. You can be both." He answered.

After a few moments Gates, Javier, and Ryan entered the hall. Gates spoke first. "I thought you should know firsthand. I didn't want to tell you over the phone and certainly didn't want you to see it on the news. I was sure you would want to see it."

"Yes sir. Thank you very much. If you don't mind, we would like to leave now."

"Of course Detective, of course."

With that Kate and Castle entered the elevator and headed back down to the street. Castle looked over at her and asked "Where are we going?"

She looked over and gave a small smile. "Wherever we want to Babe. Wherever we want to."


	6. Chapter 6

**If you liked the last chapter and the way it ended, don't read this and enjoy what I've done. Even though this is where I was headed from the beginning it still may be a bridge to far. Just remember I warned you.**

**I don't expect the reviews to be nice given what I've done here but please cut be slack on the time line.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. They have the good sense not to do this to there characters.**

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A week later a letter arrived at the loft address to Rick Castle. Rick stayed home to work on the new chapters while Kate prepped for an upcoming trial. There was no return address but the postage mark showed it had been mailed locally. Castle very rarely received letters. The occasional fan mail would slip by, but this didn't look or feel that way. He walked into the kitchen, made some coffee and then went back into the office to finish up his chapter. He typed for a few minutes but kept glancing back over at the letter. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and opened it.

_Dear Mr. Castle,_

_You don't know me but my name is Joseph Lawrence Swinson and I owe you and Detective Beckett my deepest apologizes and thanks. If you research me you will find official records showed that I died in 1975 in a single car accident in upstate New York. I was drunk, lost control and drove off the embankment. I died instantly so that when the fire broke out the body was burned beyond recognition. I was laid to rest at a church cemetery outside of Bethesda, Maryland._

_The unofficial story is much more involved and also has the added benefit of being true. After graduating with a law degree from a west coast university I was recruited by the FBI. According to official records I failed out of Quantico and couldn't pass the bar, hence the drinking and crash. The truth is I graduated top of my class. Being an unknown, an orphan and having been on the west coast for years I was approached for an undercover assignment. The deal was for me to go into the District Attorney's Office in New York City to help with a corruption sting. Apparently there were plenty of people on the periphery of the investigation but no one in the middle. The whole operation had been going on for two years, but I was only supposed to be in for six months. I wasn't even supposed to actually talk or meet with any one. I was just supposed to get documents. In and out, six months, nothing risky and then I would get the assignment of my choosing and my life would be put back together. I said yes. It was and is the most regrettable decision of my life. I entered the DA's office in the middle of 77. I handed the files over to the FBI as requested. What I didn't know then, and I wouldn't know for another year was the fact that the DA's office had accomplices in the DOJ. What I did find was that a group of police officers was kidnapping and ransoming mob figures. I also realized that the DA was aware of what was going on. Everything went bad when the cops shot an undercover FBI agent. A low level mob nobody was framed for the whole thing and sent to prison. In the late 70's and early 80's the mob and FBI got into a pretty bad war. The compromised officials in the NYPD and FBI framed my control officers. In an effort to protect me from exposure all the files about Joseph Lawrence Swinson were destroyed. On that day Joseph died forever and William Bracken had to learn to survive._

Castle dropped the letter. He couldn't remember if he screamed or not but he definitely put his hand over his mouth. What the hell was he reading? This could not possibly be real. He shouldn't even complete reading this. It had to be all lies. The whole thing. Unfortunately, Castle's curiosity controlled him.

_What I did to survive wasn't always good. I pitted gangs against one another. I blackmailed and used corrupt cops, lawyers, and politicians. I help start a military company in order to have individuals to use to fight back against some of incredibly dangerous individuals I crossed. I had to leave the DA's office because my enemies were getting to close. I used the money I had taken from dozens of corrupt individuals to fund my campaigns. First as a representative and second as a Senator. Along the way I left a string of dead bodies and broken individuals, all of whom were on the wrong side of the law. That was until January of 1999. Johanna Beckett wasn't supposed to be in that ally way. Her associate had figured out what had happened with the cops and the frame and wanted to black mail me and my associates (the money trail lead to me because I framed the DA who took the money originally). I tried to explain to the partner what had happened. Told the whole story, like I tell you now, but she wouldn't listen. She wanted money. I set the meeting in the ally and the hit. It wasn't supposed to be Johanna. She had figured out that her partner had sold her out and was there to confront her. It was mistaken identity. Until that moment I had always held the hope that I could get out of this alive. That getting justice, even from the wrong side, would be enough. That night I was the wrong side. The other three individuals killed by Coonan, they had it coming for various reason, but not Johanna Beckett. Imagine my surprise all those years later when her daughter starts digging into the case. I didn't even notice at first. It was my partner's at TSI who realized what was happening. Roy Montomery's blackmail was the perfect excuse to leave her alone. I should have gone public right then and there, but I didn't. I was afraid. I wasn't a strong enough man. I didn't know about Lockwood. I'm wasn't paying attention. I thought the truce was holding. I did know about Maddox but I couldn't stop the shot at the funeral. The second time I was too weak to do the right thing. When Detective Beckett quit the NYPD I thought she would be safe. I should have known it wouldn't last. During the bombing attempt I thought I could use my influence to throw her off the force. Push her clear. Then when she saved my life I thought I could create my own truce. I life for a life._

_Then came the undercover assignment. A crooked cop inside narcotics told me what was happening. Told me the nosey homicide detective was undercover as Elena. He thought I could use the information to end Beckett once and for all. He's the one that Elena killed in the hospital for what's it worth. I know exactly how she felt. So far in the only way out was through. Scared every moment that any little mistake would end her life. The fear that at some point you become the person you are pretending to be and lose what you truly are. The torture, the fear, the regret, the life you wanted lost to you. I could not let that happen. I finally had the courage to do the right thing. I sent her back to her life. I know she must not be whole from the ordeals my decisions and lack of courage have caused, but she has you to help her. I find it almost poetic that saving her from a fate similar to mine is finally going to bring down so many criminals. I had planned on doing this before the convention. Get enough attention to make what I am about to do impossible to cover up. But, by saving Detective Kate Beckett, I have made that happen. This can't be covered up. And for that I am thankful._

_So by now you know what I've done. I've taken everything from over three decades of deceit, lies, corruption, and murder and turned them over to the Attorney General and every news outlet that would listen. After that, I've taken my life. I know my crimes and this is a fitting punishment. I realized long ago that I wouldn't come out the other side of this. I'm just glad that you and your future wife will._

_William Bracken_

Castle set the letter down on the table. Was there any possible way this was true? He would have to get Ryan to look into Joseph Swinson. See if any such person existed. The bigger issue was did he tell Kate? Ok, well he had to tell Kate. He had learned his lesson on keeping secrets. The question was would it help or make things worse? Would knowing that her mother's death was a mistake cause all new pain? Would she even believe anything in this letter? Did he believe anything in this letter? He needed another opinion. Quickly.

"ALEXIS!"

In ten minutes Alexis read the letter twice. When she finished the second time she looked up at her father "Dad, you know you have to show her this right?"

"Yes. How much worse do you think it will make things?"

"If it was me, a lot. But Kate? It's really hard to tell." She set the letter back down on the counter. "You have to tell her now. You can't wait for the right time for this. If you don't show her immediately it will only make things worse."

"I know. I know."

Kate got back from the precinct around 6. An early day for her. She was looking forward to a night of movies, wine, and cuddling. Well, she was looking forward to that until she closed the door, turned around, and saw the looks on Rick's and Alexis's face.

"What's wrong?"

"Kate, you need to read this." Castle said pointing at the letter on the table.

"O-Kay" she said walking over to the counter.

"It just came today. I've read it and Alexis has read it because I need another opinion. I knew I had to show it to you, but it's not a good letter. Just read it all the way through before you ask any question okay. If you want to read it in the office alone I won't stop you but I would really like if you just sat here."

Now Kate was nervous. It took a lot to bring this much seriousness out in Rick and Alexis looked like she was about to crumble. She sat down and began reading the letter. About half way through the letter Kate felt the world swim a little bit. Out of reflex and habit she felt Detective Beckett surge, but remember that she was among family and allowed just Kate to fall apart. She cried for so many reasons. The loss of her mother, the destruction of so many lives, the loss of her mentor, the damage done to her own life. She looked up upon finishing and grabbed Rick and pulled him close. She wasn't sure how long she stayed that way, sobbing, as he rubbed circles on her back and whispered reassuring nothings into her hair.

As she began to calm down, it occurred to her she was very sad, but she wasn't empty. She wasn't spiraling. She had family, love, and she had Rick. This hurt, but she would get through it, and she would be happy.

"I'll be OK Rick. It's going to take time to be all over this and this letter. But it doesn't matter." She pulled back from Rick and looked him in the face and then over to Alexis. "It is over. That's what matters. I will –we will be OK."

Rick kissed her forehead and held her tightly "Always."


End file.
